Writers Tricks of the Trade Issue 3 Volume 9 | Page 38

Martha Cheves is our resident reviewer. Vis-
it her websites for more reviews and reci-
pes.
http://marthaskitchenkorner.blogspot.com
(A Book and a Dish)
http://stirlaughrepeat.blogspot.com (Main
Site)
http://marthaatkitchenkorner.blogspot.co
m (Martha's Kitchen Korner)
http://marthasrecipecabinet.blogspot.com
(Martha's Recipe Cabinet)
http://stirlaughrepeatcookbook.blogspot.co
m (Cookbook Site)
ABOUT IRMA FRITZ
I had two childhoods. One was as a kid in Germany, the other as
a teen in California. Now, my husband and I live in the Seattle area.
I was passionate about reading and wanting to be a writer from
early on. Growing up in post-WWII Germany, I wrote poetry and
short stories, and I read everything I could get my hands on, no
matter if it was the classics or dime-store novels. I learned to ap-
preciate Schiller and Goethe, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky, and, finally,
Shakespeare. He says it all!
In college I also discovered contemporary writers and learned to tell good from bad. I
earned a B.A. in English from California State University at Los Angeles, where I studied litera-
ture, poetry, novel & short story writing.
I worked as a press agent at a few Hollywood PR companies until I experienced major burn
out. Hollywood stars are sooo narcissistic! I traveled & worked at too many jobs to count. In
Seattle I found a home in banking administration & human resources. I kept writing. I kept
learning, attending workshops and writers' groups. Finally, I published my first novel, "Irre-
trievably Broken." What a long road it's been!
"Irretrievably Broken" had many inspirations, but ultimately it was a newspaper clipping
from my hometown in Germany. A neighboring property had been torn down and a mikvah, a
Jewish ritual bath, was unearthed. Experts speculated that a synagogue would most likely be
situated beneath the foundations of the house I had lived in as a child. And so, at the heart of
this three-generational family tale told by grandma, daughter, and granddaughter, is a Holo-
caust story.
F ALL 2019
P AGE 34
W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE